Word: self-interest
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Your story on the trouble that the U.S. is having in controlling the crime and chaos in Iraq [WORLD, May 26] struck me as condemning the conductor instead of the orchestra that is playing badly. Iraqi citizens don't seem to be able to act in their own self-interest, probably because of the country's factionalism. I bet a lot of scores are being settled right now. Iraq will come together but not before the Iraqis squeeze as much money as they can from the U.S. JOHN EADES Zionsville...
...Faculty rallied around its academic self-interest, but students lacked a unifying theme for their protests and had no direct interest...
...meet their relatives on the other side?once it is confident that Pakistan has bottled up the militants. Kashmiris (aside from some hard-line Kashmiri politicians) will settle for a peace dividend that reunites them and restores the calm that can bring tourism, investment and prosperity. For the subcontinent, self-interest may yet prove to be in everyone's interests...
Indeed, the small number of scientists willing to publish negative results may be a function of self-interest. For example, the Journal of Universal Computer Science started a section for negative results in 1997. Since then, the journal has received no submissions on negative results, leading one editorial board member to quip that the only known negative result was the failure of the section itself. Owning up to a failed hypothesis is something few scientists would be willing to do unless their peers are doing so as well. After all, admitting to getting something wrong does little to help...
...journals is the primary goal of scientists. In a commentary in the journal Nature last month, a prominent editor of scientific journals wrote about how the obsession to publish in the top journals such as Nature, Science or Cell has sometimes eroded the quality of work produced. The narrow self-interest that pushes scientists to focus on a handful of prestigious journals also prevents them from publishing negative results. Until publishing negative results helps scientists advance their careers, we can expect them to continue focusing on the positive...